Giroud To Return – Or Depart?
Jan 29th, 2018 by 'holic
“What is a good warning for us is that Liverpool are an attacking team. You cannot criticise them for not attacking. They are very dangerous going forward and they didn’t manage to score against Swansea. That is a good warning for us that we have to produce an absolute total offensive performance.”
Arsene Wenger is certainly not underestimating a team who may be sitting bottom of the league but who have been beaten just once in seven matches since the arrival of new manager, Carlos Carvalhal. A home victory would lift the Swans out of the bottom three, so that should be sufficient motivation for them. To claim the points we will have to find a way past our old boy, Lukasz Fabianski, who is enjoying excellent form of late.
We could welcome back Olivier Giroud after injury but that may change if he is one of the bricks that has to be put in place to enable the move of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the Arsenal. Barring the return of Petr Cech in place of David Ospina the manager may choose to go with the outfield players who defeated Chelsea last week to reach Wembley. That is unless he feels Henrich Mkhitaryan is ready for his first start in an Arsenal shirt.
A back four of Hector Bellerin, Skhodran Mustafi, Laurent Koscielny, and Nacho Monreal can be supplemented by Mohamed Elneny at the base of a midfield diamond that should also feature Jack Wilshere, Granit Xhaka, and Mesut Ozil. Alex Iwobi or Mkhitaryan may be asked to work the flanks and support Alexandre Lacazette up front.
At the end of October we had to come from behind to claim the points against the Swans at home, with Sead Kolasinac cancelling out the opener from Clucas before setting up Aaron Ramsey for the winner. At the Liberty Stadium last season we ran out comfortable 0-4 winners thanks to two own goals and efforts from Giroud and Alexis Sanchez. This season we are bidding to end a run of four away matches without a win in all competitions.
The ‘holic pound
The bookies cannot separate 0-1 or 0-2 to the Arsenal and these are joint favourites at around 6/1. There isn’t much value around so I am going for the Gunners to win 1-3 at 12/1.
With that I can go back to watching the transfer news in the hope that we do indeed complete on Aubameyang. Why do I think this could go to the wire, which is 5pm on Wednesday in the Bundesliga? Bearing in mind the new boy isn’t eligible to play for us in the Europa League it would be very risky indeed allowing Giroud to move to another club, much though I would love to see the big man reclaim his France place in the World Cup.
Have a good one, ‘holics.
143 Responses to “Giroud To Return – Or Depart?”
Hot off the presses.
Isn’t Giroud destined to score us the last minute winner in the Europa League final? And, aren’t Arsenal management playing attention to destiny?
Sorry, ‘holic. Remembering that you have a category called “tongue in cheek,” which you use only once in a while, I should point out that tongue in cheek is my default position. 🙂
Still, I bet Giroud can score some big goals for us in the remainder of the season if he stays, and your point about Aubameyang being cup tied could be a deciding factor unless we are throwing in the Europa towel.
I like the sound of 1-3. Lukas Fab’s a tough man to put three past these days. Always was. Enjoy.
Nice stuff H. Let’s hope The Flapster returns to his Flappy self.
We should have more than enough quality but again it will come down to which Arsenal turns up. Hopefully Mkhitaryan will get a run out and will start to enjoy his time at Arsenal.
Hopefully by kick off we will have the Aubameyang move concluded. I’m looking forward to seeing him on Saturday.
Up the Gunners.
Amazing how teams seem to sack their managers and improve under the new manager before they play us. It won’t be an easy game but hopefully we can win a tight game 2-1.
Lots of love for Ollie Giroud deservedly but the chance to sign PEA is one we must take. Maybe if we’d got our ducks in a row earlier we might not have had to sell him- but looked at from HFB’s perspective in a World Cup year it would be another kick in the teeth if we insist on keeping him.
I say let him go in recognition of great service. He is 31 and won’t have many chances like this left. If Batshuayi goes to Dortmund the PEA deal is sorted.
If Batshuayi goes to Dortmund I still can’t figure why it wouldn’t be in part exchange for O’Bangabomb, with the Gaboner offered double the salary we would pay him. My only guess is that Conte might see him as more trouble than Costa?
More trouble than Costa, Chris? That surely is a mathematical impossibility.
Chris
Commonsense would suggest that Auba is coming to us because of the Mislintat connection.
It also helps that Miki has come to us as well.
Both of them swayed by the happy memories they had playing together when Dortmund were electrifying to watch.
So that would suggest Mislintat had done some informal work behind the scenes laying the foundations for this reunion,once Utd became favorites for the Sanchez signature.
As for Auba being troublesome,i seem to recall RVP was an absolute arrogant prick who fell out with the hierarchy at his previous clubs before joining us.
Didn’t cause any problems at the Arse.
Well read Clive, I think you are spot on. Remember also that Chelsea are not the Moneybags team they used to be . They have a very expensive ground to build.
I’m amazed we’ve had the free run at Auba that we have. Given his extraordinary record and the price lesser strikers are fetching. It must be the Mislintat Connection that set this up. This suggests the tectonic plates of decision- making at Arsenal have radically shifted. And Sanllehi doesn’t start until Thursday!
Getting the band back together. Never easy.
Just when you thought it was safe to go to sleep I’ve been told we might be considering signing David Luiz. If we did would Chelsea be strengthening a rival?
England striker Sturridge to West Brom tells you all you need to know about England football.
TTG@13: I’d take Luiz over Evans any day.
Nice one Guvna. It’s a stiff test and as Steve observed the passing of it will depend on the correct Arsenal turning up. I don’t think that’s been a happy hunting ground for us even when we were in better shape than our current form suggests. Hoping for a decent performance and a victory however achieved. We really need to gather the points now and for the rest of the season. ?
Good points about the need to sacrifice HFB to the dark side to ensure the arrival of BamBam. We know it makes sense.
TTG
I have a feeling Auba was already 90% ours once Mislintat joined us.
Never underestimate the ties that bind.
Ned,
It is easy,if you get the key components that made it tick in the first place.
@13
No!
@14
but when you put it like that….
hmmmm, still no !
can’t we have neither
sorry Guvnor, in the shock of seeing
Luiz to The Arsenal mooted I forgot
to thank you for todays post.
I think you’ve nailed the XI – my guess
is Mkhi will be on the bench – for the
Swansea. Hope you’ve nailed the score
too.
aren’t Arsenal management playing attention to destiny?
That’ll only drive you bonkers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0WapDCR9fg
Point taken, Clive. But I’m still as surprised as TTG that no one else has, as far as we know or the press has speculated, made a pitch for him.
Perhaps Mislintat could also try for Lewandowski, or my old favourite Marco Reus.
Or even take a moment to look at the real problem, our defence. I fancy a couple of Italian CBs would solve most of that, if he knows any.
Auba more trouble for opposing defenders than Costa, perhaps?? 🙂
Other Clubs may well have made approaches behind the scenes Chris,but have been rebuffed.
Which makes me think this deal has been in the pipeline much longer than we think.
Auba, Evans, Luiz and Mkhi are all
nearing or over 30. It’s good that
we’re seeking pragmatic solutions*
to short term problems – Theo and
OG leaving is another example – but
Sven and the newbies will need to
get in some quality younger players
this summer to really earn their corn.
*even if I disagree with the solution
Clive@16: That is the hard part.
bath@15: We’ve lost only one of our six Premier League games in Swansea, whereas we’ve lost two of our last four home league games against them.
Excellent stuff Clive. The deal now seems to hinge on Dortmund finding a replacement. I just hope that all of our pontificating does not come back to bite us?
Luiz in a swap for Ollie G???????
I think Luiz is a decent footballer but a total liability as a defender. Now, as a holding midfielder who sits just in front of the centre backs???
Steve
My thinking too. Luiz is mobile and Good in the air and has played effectively for Chavski there . He might be an interesting option especially as he takes great free- kicks too. Another rather elderly gentleman though.
Wenger always says transfers are like poker games and come down to the wire but knowing BVB need a replacement I think we might have moved quicker. One idea if Giroud won’t move to Dortmund is to offer them Welbeck on a loan?
TTG. Couldn’t agree more. If the Aubameyang deal doesn’t happen because we’ve left it too late then I dread to think whatvtge reaction would be. You would have thought we may have learned something after the summer fiasco with Lemar???
I still think it will happen but I have no idea why we decide to make a complicated deal even harder by just playing with it for so long?
@TTG,
“One idea if Giroud won’t move to Dortmund is to offer them Welbeck on a loan?”
I’m not sure that Dortmund would take anybody’s arm off on that offer! However, PEA is being brought to upgrade our ‘Plan A’ in attack. Instead of doing away with our ‘Plan B’ (Giroud) to get to PEA, outrageous as it may sound, shouldn’t we be looking to offload whoever is destined to be made redundant from this whole deal?
Can’t we offer them Lacazette on loan? 😉
I like the idea of offering Dead Shot Danny. Only problem is that Dortmund want a goal scorer.
Transfer windows bring out the worst in lazy lournalism. Very few journos bother to dig and rely on regurgitating the so called ITK people like Balague and Honigstein or wait until Arsenal announce things through Ornstein!
One example is that it is widely reported that the transfer window is 11pm tomorrow. Not in Germany it isn’t! The window closes at 5pm so any deal either way has to be in place by then.
Another is the suggestion that in this day and age a player has to be here before a deal can be done . There are wonderful medical facilities in Germany and forms can be signed wherever the player is. This idea that we are running out of flights to get Auba to London Colney is the sort of rubbish Sky and TalkShite thrive on.
I will be very glad when the window is over but only if we have Auba on board. I wouldn’t want to lose Lacazette. He’s been far from a failure, in fact I can see an excellent striker in him.
I really like Lacazette. Having watched him in the flesh and seen how good his running is I am even more keen to see a team that uses him properly. I think he is a top player, fantastic finisher and that he has a lot of room to improve. And he’s 26 (I think) and as well as being quick he does a lot that does not rely on speed. He can hold the ball well, especially for a guy who is not built like most of the strikers we associate with good hold up play. With his back to goal if you give him any space at all he can turn and shoot with either foot in the blink of any eye. And if you don’t give him any space he can simply play the ball into the path of a charging PEA. Ozil, Mkhitaryan, PEA and Lacazette would score a lot of goals. We would definitely need a serious quality DM to allow us to play them all though. Or just go back to the policy of having a poor defence and a lethal attack. Instead of a poor defence and an indifferent attack!
Transfer windows are only enforced for buying, not selling, aren’t they? So we can still buy from Dortmund after their window closes, but they cannot replace PEA if they haven’t already done so.
PEA arrives at Arsenal’s training ground- BBC??
GSD- PEA was born on 18th June, 1989 which makes him 28 now. Agree with everything you have said about Laca and I think he will start scoring goals once he gets used to the Premier League. I only hope Ozil extends his contract and stays with us for two more years and we strengthen our defence in the new season and we can start challenging to win the league.
City just made a 50m bid for Mahrez… it’s just not rational this market.
At this rate.. Auba will be cheap… assuming we get him of course.
every year it feels like a lotta fuckinaboutery
and whatiffery
Apparently I learn that the German Football Federation have extended their deadline until February 2nd. It’s clear to me that Sky are well behind the curve in these days of social media but basically not many people really know what’s going on.
So we have until 11pm tomorrow to sign PEA.
.
plus loadsa shouldawouldacoulda
@37 BB
yeah, I just read Shitty have bid 59m for Mahrez.
After confirming 57m for Laporte, who’s never even
played for France.
.
.
“who’s on first?”
Earlier today, everything was set for Batshuayi to join Dortmund on loan with Giroud moving to Chelsea for £20m.
However Chelsea – through their transfer negotiator Marina Granovskaia – are now said to be trying to drive the Giroud price down at the last minute.
Arsenal have not taken well to that and are threatening to end negotiations with Chelsea and send Giroud on loan to Dortmund, in order to complete the Aubameyang signing.
———
Ridiculous!
Frankly every club tries to drive the price down. We’ve spent a week in Dortmund doing the very same thing. The problem is every window where we’re active we end up trying to sign players at the last minute- Baptista and Gallas, Arshavin, Arteta Sánchez and Lemar and now PEA. Why? Because we treat it as a high- stakes poker game. I know Citeh have more money but they have a clearer strategy for dealing with windows nb not getting involved in the Sanchez deal this time but their dealings although extravagant are much less problematical .
£50m for Mahrez is a bloody joke 😀
I’d rather loan OG to Dortmund than sell him
to the Chavs. That way we get Auba and Chavs
get no one.
Of course the whole thing is frustrating as usual.
But there’s also just no way for us to do business like
Shitty.
Anyway, I’m off to bed for a few hours kip before
my early alarm call for the Swansea game!
I doubt Auba would have flown to London Colney if the transfer wasn’t nailed on. It has become practically impossible for him to play for Dortmund again now. He knows this, Dortmund know this.
Besides, if Dortmund are so desperate to find a replacement, why are they inviting offers for Schurrle?
All seems a bit of a mess but we really should have finalised this deal weeks ago.
£18m fee agreed for Giroud.
We continue to get shafted in the transfer market.
I agree with you Barack. It looks like OG will now sign for Chelsea and Michy goes to Dortmund. OG has been a great servant to us but is only a Plan B and is 31. This may enable him to play in the World Cup .
Chelsea did sell us Cech as a favour to the player so there is a parallel and we have already strengthened Liverpool , United and Everton this season .
I hope there are no more last minute glitches . Apparently the pictures are taken for the website and I’d like to see him on Saturday with Mkhi and maybe a new defender. But that might be being greedy!
£18 Million for OG plus David Luiz. ?
David Luiz also in a CDM role?! ?
Thanks for the preview, Holic !
If the FA had any sense they would extend the deadline here too. Not that I’m keen for another 24 hours of willy-wonty (you forgot that one, cba) but it is just bloody stupid to have a transfer window ending in the midst of a full Premier League programme.
The last window ended while a round of international matches was being played. It seemed such a good idea, the FA felt compelled to repeat the farce again.
Anyhow, there are 28 hours and 25 minutes left ????
CDM = Cadbury’s Dairy Milk ? ?
We strengthened Everton, TTG ?
I thought we sold them Theo ….. ?
*runs and hides from Chris and Cynic*
We’ve had to agree £18 million for OG to Chavs because otherwise the Chavs won’t let Micky Batshit join Dortmund and then Dortmund won’t let us have Aubamayang.
After all, who would have guessed Dortmund would want to get a replacement for a top drawer striker ?
It might even have been worth making our €60million bid a bit earlier so they had an extra day or two.
But where’s the adrenalin rush in that ?
? plus *sage nod*
this trev is why you get paid the big bucks
It looks as though the aubumeyang deal is finally going ahead with the player being allowed to take his medical, Arsenal supposedly reducing the price for Giroud, and Batshuayi apparently on his way to Dortmund; but how the hell have we nearly cocked-up a deal that could have easily been sorted three weeks ago, when Chelsea were pursuing other targets and Giroud could have been used as makeweight?
For a club that prides itself on being a good business model, to have allowed a third-party (Chelsea), to have a say in how we conduct our business is not good enough.
Let’s at least try to get the thing sorted first thing tomorrow and save we long-suffering fans the usual last day clock-watching as the minute hand nears 11 o’clock.
For those who forgot we had a game today:
Starting: Cech, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Elneny, Xhaka, Ramsey, Iwobi, Ozil, Lacazette
Bench: Ospina, Chambers, Kolasinac, Maitland-Niles, Mkhitaryan, Nketiah, Giroud
Not sure the last of those will be on the bench.
And what has happened to Jack?
In other transfer news, we’ve sold England U19 DM Marcus McGuane to Barcelona.
Looks like we are starting with a back four against Swansea.
‘holic royalty ned and trev multi-posting
.
my work here
Jack is ill, according to the BBC.
is
done
?
Aubameyang has passed his medical – I even have copies of his x-rays –
https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/xray-both-leg-show-external-fixation-493185082?src=G7stiRn_dXIpoc6l5vOgQQ-1-0
??
But neither of us can sustain your length of consecutive posts, cba. Of those you are the master.
Trev@68: I guess he won’t need a shin pad on that left leg then.
Iwobi again… why?
No Ned, that would only slow him down.
🙂
cba, beautiful young Irish lass with a folk/blues voice fit for shattering Edinburgh Crystal and superb acoustic guitar skills, in the style of Bonnie Raitt at her best, touring with Paul Carrack. Didn’t catch her name though. Know her?
No, but no-one comes close to bonnie Raitt!
Grainne Duffy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCpJYvG-ssM
We could have been two down but saved by Ramsey and then Elneny. Shambolic defending and we keep giving the ball away.
Ramsey bombing forward exposing central midfield, got away there and a similar Chelski goal last week came from the same mistake.
No Jack?
Ramsey is still rusty after his lay off not sure why he was chosen over Jack
Shambolic defending
Good job we’ve got rid of all our goalscorers and replaced them instead of working out the defensive side of the game.
Priorities…
ksn @ 36.
PEA is 28. Got it.
And I’ve checked and Lacazette is 26 as I thought. So they both have good years left but PEA is in his prime years while Lacazette may have more left in the tank in terms of improvement. Although I hope they both do, of couse.
I think the issue is how we use and provide for Lacazette, not just him getting more used to the PL.
And I agree that i hope Ozil extends!
GSD –
You even know what tyres they use ……. ? ?
Not really got going in this game for me we miss Jack in the middle! Badly!!!
Monreal is our new striker. Get in!!!!
Monreal to the rescue ?
Come on mate I think we should let Monrral play up front
He scores when he wants!
Jesus that didn’t last long
1-1. Less than two minutes. They have looked more effective all evening.
Cech is totally over clean sheets. They are so old hat.
We don’t look like we want three points from this game
Bloody hell Arsenal wake up ffs
Laca just doesn’t have the strength to hold off defenders who are just pushing him aside. It happens every time he has the ball and he needs someone big and strong to hold and feed the ball for him to shoot. Not happening.
We are so easy to break open on the counter. Not surprising Swansea are making us look shit.
Agreed ksn on Laca
The Swans will be over the moon at half time with this result and what they have created in the first half. In fact they should be winning at half time. All this rest doesn’t do our players any good, they look lethargic, not wanting it enough and completely clueless out there. Time for some subs Mr. Wenger it ain’t working!
Xhaka doesn’t think that defence is part of his job description. Just as well as he hasn’t learned to tackle.
I don’t know what Xhaka is, he isn’t box to box midfielder and he is isn’t a defensive mid and he hasn’t shown the range of passing to be an attacking mid. Not surprising he is not a consistently good performer.
No wonder Monreal isn’t our saviour we have no teeth up front!
Is not isn’t
Jesus mountain to climb now
Cech gives the Swans a gift. 2-1. Looks like we will be lucky to get a point today. As Theo would have said, they wanted it more.
What a joke!
Wenger looks lost as well! Not just the players!
What a load of shit
Dozy bunch of wankers
Does PEA have a return ticket? He’ll be wandering after this
Xhaka cost 35m… back when 35 mill was a lot of money… 🙂
No penetration from leed to right then back again ffs
Why are the team so shite away from home?
It’s not just Xhaka Dexter
Atg
No but whose the DM? I’d rather Elneny or AMN.
Think Cech’s time to move on has come?
Bellerin lashes out then looks confused why he got a yellow dumb ass
No it isn’t
Iwobi = Shit
Xhaka = Shit
Mustafi = Shit
Ramsay = Shit
Lacazette = Shit
It’s painful to watch really
And I was looking forward to watching Arsenal again!
Mustafi and Xhaka wouldn’t make Stirling Albion’s team, Holic.
Every team knows how to play us.
Mustafi gave it away and it was almost 3-1.
Anyone watching the match would thing Arsenal was the bottom team and Swansea the no.6.
Aubameyang has been spotted arriving at the homepage of Lufthansa .com
Mkhitaryan must be wondering what he has got himself into.
Cech has gone down hill faster than Eddie the Eagle…
Giroud in place of Iwobi – plan B time.
Welcome back OG maybe you can chnge this game for us!
Giroud should have been on at half time.
Wonder if well sign a CB by tomorrow night?
Seen this script so many times…am tired even thinking about it!! How many times have we lost to Swansea like this?? My Arsenal is a now a mediocre mid-table team. Sad!!
Oh dear gawd were rubbish
Dead and buried!! Cognac toast and three roses!!
Outplayed by the bottom team. Sad times.
Kenyan
Couldn’t agree more and it’s over it’s shambles and we are the only club persisting with loads of bullshit! Game after game, season afternoon season!
Shambles!
They sealed it 3-1.
At this rate we will not even finish top eight.
Wenger should spend time on defensive set up and organization. Oh, he doesn’t know what that is.
Mustafi is a shit and that defence needs a complete overhaul.
Let’s hope the away supporters give the HFB a proper clap off and song.
Auba… on his way back … 😀
We should spend 200m on defenders.
Pep must know something…
Can understand why Giroud starts for France. He has caused more problems to the Swans defence in the 15 minutes he has been on field than Laca has the whole match.
Players rested should be fired up for this this team is shit under this manager! There I said it!
Whoda thought defending would be such an integral part of the game?
I’d be off like a shot if I was PEA, I wouldn’t come anywhere near Arsenal with this fraud in charge of the team.
It doesn’t matter who we sign, or how much they cost. AW can’t coach a team any longer.
Not at the level we want anyway.
We leave the entire two third of our side unguarded which makes it easy for a fast counter attacking team to score against us. We never learn.
Giroud looks to be bidding farewell. We will miss him.
Barack@115,
Brilliant!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
What a truly appalling performance. We are not only clueless, but making basic mistakes, although it has to be said that we clearly weren’t plying the right football for the pitch conditions.
We are fast becoming the whipping boys of the league.??
I switched it off there’s is point me watching them they and the manager should be ashamed after this sort of performance there is nothing in that team with this bloke in charge! Even if we get Messi we would still be shit!
What an awful result. After the pathetic display against Bournemouth we now lose 5o the bottom team. How awful is that.
Even with the excitement of the new arrivals we desperately need a CDM( how many times do we say that ?) and we need better central defenders. I was kind to Cech recentl6 but he is going downhill and needs to be replaced.
The summer will be a time for creating a new defence and defensive midfield. And hopefully for putting in place a much better manager.
Cech has been mostly horrible this season. We need to get a keeper this summer. We might as well put our hopes on winning the EL to get back into the CL. We are most definitely not getting into top four this season. It really has been a horrible season, hopefully this will be Wenger’s last season.